Battenberg Cake

Battenberg Cake

A Battenberg cake is a classic British Tea cake, made out of basic sponge cake that has been cut into rectangular logs which are then ‘glued’ together with apricot jam and eveloped in thinly rolled marzipan. When you slice a piece of Battenberg you should see a symmetrical grid of squares. Traditionally a Battenberg is made as a two by two grid but more recently I have made it as a three by three design with success. It looks more impressive and isn’t much more work so I’ve included the detailed instructions below.

I have always loved marzipan and I first learned to make it myself just so I could prepare this cake. Just as I prefer a cake covered in Modeling chocolate to one in fondant, marzipan is another cake covering and decorating medium that I actually enjoy eating. It is hugely versatile, and fast to put together, provided you have a food processor. I’ve also made a vegan version of marzipan (just swap the egg white for corn syrup) and I’ve used it to decorate a carrot cake (upcoming post) as well as covering many Battenbergs.

A detailed kitchen project for sure, but if you take your time it really isn’t as difficult as it looks. Enjoy!

Allow to cool completely. Remove from the pan and cool on a wire rack. / Dejar enfriar y remover de la badeja.

Marzipan / Mazapán

1 1/2 cups blanched almonds / tazas de almendras

2 1/2 cups icing sugar / tazas de azúcar impalpable

1 tbsp lemon juice / cucharada de jugo de limón

1 tsp almond extract / cucharilla de extracto de almendra

1 egg white / clara de huevo

Instructions for Marzipan / Instrucciones para el Mazapán

If using unblanched almonds you will first need to remove the skins. To blanch the almonds – cover the almonds with boiling water and let sit for one minute, drain and cover the almonds with cold water, strain once again and cover with fresh water and drain once more. / Cubrir las almendras en agua hervida caliente y dejar por 1 minuto, colar las almendras y cubrirlas con agua fría, colar nuevamente y cubrirlas con agua fresca y colar por ultimo vez.

The skins of the almond should peel off easily. / La cáscara de las almendras se podrá pelar facilmente.

Once the almonds are peeled, add to a food processor along with the powdered sugar and grind together for about a minute. After the mixture is well combined, add the egg white (or corn syrup), almond extract and lemon juice and blend again until the mixture comes together and forms a dough. You may need to add more powdered sugar if the mixture is too wet. The dough should clean the sides of the bowl as it spins, and should feel completely smooth (not at all grainy) when it is ready. / Una vez que las almendras estén peladas colocarlas en un procesador de comida junto con la azúcar impalpable y triturarlos por 1 minuto. Agregar la clara de huevo, extracto de almendras y jugo de limón y triturar nuevamente hasta que se torne una masa y todo este bien incorporado, posiblemente necesites agregar más azúcar si es que la masa esta muy húmeda. La masa debe ser sueve.

There will only be 8 pieces of cake, whereas we need 9, so trim the cake, as per the photo above, so that you maintain a 6 inch cake, use the extra pieces of pink cake to build another log for the grid. / Sólo habrá 8 porciones de torta, pero que nosotros necesitamos 9, por lo tanto debes cortar la torta (como la foto) para que la torta sea de 6 pulgadas, utilice las piezas extra de la torta de color rosado para la construcción de otro pedazo largo.

I rearrange the cake so that these segmented pieces are in the center of the cake rather than on the edge for ease of assembly later. / Colocar el nuevo pedazo largo de torta en el centro (ver foto), esto ayudará a que el montaje del mazapán sea mejor.

At this time – roll out the marzipan (300 grams) on a sheet of parchment as thin as possible to a rectangle of approximately 6 x 12 inches / Amasar el mazapán (300 gramos) lo más delgado posible a un rectángulo de aproximadamente 6 x 12 pulgadas

Heat a few tablespoons of Apricot jam in the microwave to loosen and assemble the cake onto the center of the rolled marzipan. Brush the marzipan with apricot jam as well as each side of each additional piece of cake. / Calentar unas cucharadas de mermelada de durazno en el microondas, para montar la torta colocar un poco la mermelada caliente en los lados y el centro de los pedazos largos de torta.

Once the 9 pieces of cake are assembled, brush the outer layers of the cake with apricot jam and pull the sides of marzipan up around the cake, trimming the marzipan as necessary so that the ends meet at the bottom, use a knife to seal the pieces together. Roll the cake so that the joined edges are on the bottom, trim the edges and using the back of a knife make a criss cross patterned impression on the top of the cake. / Colocar o cepillar un poco de la mermelada alrededor de la torta para que el mazapán se pegue a la torta. Cortar el mazapán cuando sea necesario para que sea el mismo tamaño que la torta, hacer un diseño en la parte superior de la torta sobre el mazapán con un cuchillo como se ve en la foto